For one, it has that sort of clunky everyman thing going for it which is kind of refreshing. It's not sleek, has zero pretensions, and looks just like you'd expect a budget sailboat for the masses to look.
Which is some kind of beautiful in it's own particular way.
Designed for sailing in and around the UK where drying harbors and big tides are common it has bilge keels and they make all kinds of sense. Frankly, I still don't understand why more designers don't do bilge keels as their advantages in most situations outweigh their disadvantages in most of the places folks want to cruise. So, hardly surprising that it is the most popular production sailboat from the UK.
I know Centaurs have crossed the Atlantic and Pacific so they do have some serious street cred which might, along with their bombproof scantlings and high demand, account for their rather steep resale prices. It is not uncommon to find a 1969 Centaur going for $16-18K or so...
As a VolksCruiser it makes all kinds of sense and in a lot of ways really is one of the prototypical examples of what a production boat for most of us should be.
